Nickelini 2024

Hi, I'm Joyce from Vancouver, Canada. I predict I won't be reading much in 2024, but I will try to keep up here.

Reading Stats

December

24. Sorrow & Blisss, Meg Mason (reread)

November

23. Sorrow & Bliss, Meg Mason

October

22. Fit to Die, Daniel Kalla

September

21. When We Lost Our Heads, Heather O'Neill
20. Lampedusa, Steven Price

August

19. Consumption, Kevin Patterson

July

18. The Jane Austen Society, Natalie Jenner
17. The Flatshare, Beth O'Leary
16. The French Girl, Lexie Elliott

June

15. The Days: Forecasts, Warnings, Advice, by M.A.C Farrant
14. The Maid, Nita Prose

May

13. Cheerful Weather For the Wedding, Julia Strachey
12. The Centaur's Wife, Amanda LeDuc

April

11. 101 Things I Learned in Urban Design School, Fredrick & Mehta
10. The Spoon Stealer, Lesley Crewe

March

9. Bass Rock, Evie Wyld
8. Spare, Prince Harry

February

7. Pull of the Stars, Emma Donohue
6. The Beaten Track, Louise Mangos
5. A Devil Comes to Town, Paolo Maurensig
4. Pride & Prejudice, Jane Austen

January

3. Women Talking, Miriam Toews
2. Interior Chinatown, Charles Yu
1. The Marriage Portrait, Maggie O'Farrell

READING STATS (updated monthly)

Nationality of Author:

Canada: 10
UK: 7
New Zealand: 1
US: 2
Italy: 1
Ireland: 1
Australia: 1

Language if not English:

Italian: 1

Gender:

F: 16
M: 7

Year Published:

1813: 1
1932: 1
2006: 1
2016: 1
2018: 4
2019: 3
2020: 5
2021: 1
2022: 4
2023: 2

Where my reading took me:

Florence & Ferrara, 1550s / Chinatown & Hollywood, 20th & 21st century / Mennonite Colony in Bolivia, 2009 / Kent, Hertfordshire & Derbyshire, 1810 / Switzerland 1980s / Switzerland, San Francisco, Hawaii, New Zealand, Sydney, Thailand, Nepal, 1988 / Dublin, 1918 / England, Scotland, Australia, Botswana, Vancouver Island, 1997 - 2021 / Scotland, 1700s, 1940s, 2019 / Nova Scotia & England, 1900 - 1970 / Dystopian world / England, 1932 / Hotel, US (?), current day / London, 2018 / London, 2019 / Chawton, Hampshire, 1940s / Rankin Inlet, Nunavet, 1950s - 1990s / Sicily, 1950s / Montreal, 1880s / Vancouver & Los Angeles, 2019 / London & Oxford, 1980 - 2019 /

2023 Conclusion

The year started out strong, but reading quickly fell away in spring and never recovered.

Total books read: 31
Fiction: 29
Memoir: 1
Non-fiction: 1

Female authors: 18 (58%)
Male authors: 13 (42%)

Different authors: 29
New to me authors (never read before): 19
Rereads: 1

Age of my books: 67% were written in 2016 - 2022
Oldest book was written in 1949

Author's nationality:

UK - 10 (32%)
Canada - 5 (16%)
US - 3 (9%)
Italy - 2 (6%)
Australia - 2 (6%)
France - 2 (6%)
Iceland - 1 (3%)
Netherlands - 1 (3%)
Ireland - 1 (3%)
Finland - 1 (3%)
Mexico - 1 (3%)
Denmark - 1 (3%)
Japan - 1 (3%)

Languages:
Translated books read - 10 = 32%
Italian - 2
French - 2
Icelandic - 1
Dutch - 1
Finnish - 1
Spanish - 1
Danish - 1
Japanese - 1

Best books of 2023:

In reading order:

January: Snowblind, by Ragnar Jonasson and Superfan, by Jen Sookfong Lee
February: Three Hours, by Rosamund Lupton and Lonely Hearts Hotel, by Heather O'Neill
April: English Animals, by Laura Kaye
June: The Glass Hotel, by Emily St John Mandel, and Empty Houses, by Brenda Navarro
November: The Chateau, Catherine Cooper

------------------

Number of books I've read each year since joining LT

My reading is not consistent!

2007 - 85
2008 - 91
2009 - 102
2010 - 89
2011 - 75
2012 - 75
2013 - 90
2014 - 75
2015 - 68
2016 - 73
2017 - 31
2018 - 29
2019 - 40
2020 - 46
2021 - 83
2022 - 47
2023 - 31

Hi Joyce, happy reading 2024. I've sent you a PM.

Stopping by to drop a star!

Hello - I was wondering where you were! (See our matching minimalist thread titles ;-) ?)

I am watching the spaces and awaiting further instruction.

Watching.... Wait for it....

Happy New Year, Joyce. I'll be back.

Watching. Happy travels and reading where you find it.

Can't wait!

Happy new year!

>4 Ameise1:, >5 Caramellunacy:, >6 rachbxl:, >7 ursula:, >8 labfs39:, >9 BLBera:, >10 dchaikin:, >11 rocketjk:, >12 LolaWalser:

Greetings and salutations, everyone! I will endeavor to fill in my usual fields and keep up with LT. It's been such a big part of my life since 2008.

I am struggling to get time to get back to LT at the moment, and also now I'm struggling with my brand new laptop. It does such strange things. My old PC died in October and I was patching things between my phone, my husband's laptop, and occasionally firing up the other PC in the basement office. After 10 years of using laptops, including in the past year for work everyday, this one has a mind of it's own and buttons that are Greek to me.

Will be following along again this year!

>14 AlisonY: Hi, Alison! I'll be dropping by your thread too

1. Marriage Portrait, Maggie O'Farrell, 2022


cover comments: Initially I was disappointed in this cover as I thought the hard cover, with an actual portrait of the protagonist, made more sense. I certainly had to google her picture several times while reading and I would have preferred to just look at the cover. However, I did come around on this one and think it's good too. It reminds me of the opening credit art on the TV series "White Lotus," which I loved.

Comments: A great novel to start the year!

It's the middle of the 1500s, and a 13 year old third daughter of the Grand Duke of Tuscany finds herself in an arranged marriage with Alfonso, Duke of Ferrara. Understandably she's not thrilled about this and would rather be painting miniatures. Little is known about the real Lucrezia di Medici, and she died suddenly when she was 16. A fever and disease is considered the cause, but there have long been rumours that she was murdered by her husband. O'Farrell explores one version of what might have happened.

Why I Read This Now: this was my addition to my book club's selections this year and it was selected for January's book. We had a great discussion and everyone loved the book

Rating: 4.5 stars. Because I have no reading mojo, it took my 3 weeks to read and I think in normal times I'd have read it in a few days and rated it 5 stars

How I Discovered This: O'Farrell is a favourite of mine

Recommended for : readers who like well written historical fiction, and books set in the Italian Renaissance

>16 Nickelini: O'Farrell's a favorite author of mine as well, and I have a copy of this that somehow got pushed aside in the stream of new books. Now that I'm trying to read more spontaneously, I hope to read this one soon as I know I'll like it.

>17 RidgewayGirl: I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts when you get to it

>1 Nickelini: I love this painting! Who is the artist?

I love the cover of The Marriage Portrait, Joyce and loved this one as well. I will read anything Maggie O'Farrell wants to write.

>19 ELiz_M: It's just something I stumbled on while browsing Pinterest, but an internet search tells me it's "Woman Reading (the artist's wife)" Aaron Shikler. I am not familiar with this artist.

>20 BLBera: O'Farrell is pretty much an automatic-buy author for me too

Happy New Year, Joyce, a bit belated.

>23 Cariola: Hi, Deborah!

2. Interior Chinatown, Charles Yu, 2020. Audiobook read by Joel de la Fuente


Cover comments: I love it. It fits the book perfectly

Rating: 4.5 stars

Comments: Interior Chinatown will definitely make my "best of 2024" list.

Written as a script, this is a unique novel that is satirical, deep, and often very funny. Willis Wu works in Hollywood, often on a cop show called "Black and White," and dreams of being "Kung Fu guy," when he is usually offered only "delivery guy" or "dead Asian man #2". Willis strives to be the main character in his own life, but because of the racism he experiences as an Asian American, feels that part is never available to him. This book doesn't have much of a plot, but it does have a lot to say, and says it in a new and clever way.

Recommended for: readers who don't like this complain about the script format, which I guess wasn't quite as apparent in the audiobook. I think everyone should give this a try.

How I discovered this: Europa Editions social media when it was published (they published an edition simultaneously with one of the big 5 publishers). It went onto my wish list immediately because I thought it sounded terrific.

Why I Read This Now: The last audiobook I read was in 2015. I quit because the app that the library offered was beyond frustrating. I knew that there must be a better way by now, but I was busy listening to podcasts so never pursued it. My daughter has been using this library app, Libby, and talked me into trying audiobooks again. I'm happy to be back.

Note: Interior Chinatown is coming as a TV series later this year. I'm looking forward to it.

>25 Nickelini: I loved Interior Chinatown, and that got my daughter to read it, and she loved it too. I didn't realize it was going to be a series. Interesting.

>25 Nickelini: too short for an audbible credit. But sounds fun

>25 Nickelini: It worked very well in the form of a script. It took a few pages to adapt to the format, but it perfectly fits with the story.

I also loved Interior Chinatown, and I did not know that it was going to made into a television series!

>25 Nickelini: I read Interior Chinatown when it first came out and thought it was very original. He has a new novel coming out.

3. Women Talking, Miriam Toews, 2018. Audiobook read by Matthew Edison


Cover comments: this is the paperback that I own and I think this cover is perfection. Love the colours


Cover comment: a detail from this was my audiobook cover. I see now that it's a larger picture and is obviously the movie poster. People enjoy raging against movie tie-in covers, but this is an example of one that is perfectly lovely.

Comments: Between 2005 and 2009, over a hundred women and girls were routinely drugged and abused in a remote religious colony in Bolivia. This is a fictionalization of the aftermath of these events.

I remember when these abuse events came to light, and when I heard that one of my favourite authors, Miriam Toews, wrote a novel based on it, Women Talking became a must read. However, I was never in the mood to read about such horrific occurrences, as misogyny and victimizing makes me angry, and that isn't what I need in the little time I have to read. I'm relieved to report that in this novel the most horrific incidents are alluded to and the action of the novel follows the discovery of the culprits.

The bulk of the novel covers some of the women deciding among three options, including doing nothing, which was not an option for the characters featured here. This group of women had to decide if they should stay and fight or leave. Neither was optimal. Fighting was anathema to their pacifist foundations of their Mennonite religion, and they were unsure of how successful it would be, and whether they would end up committing murder. The problem with leaving is that the women were illiterate, had never left the village, and spoke only Plautdietsch (the Mennonite form of Low German), and had no reasonable destination. Although it was the 21st century, they would have to travel by horse drawn wagons with all their food, children, and belongings.

Rating: 4.5 stars. Did not disappoint, and wasn't as grim as I'd feared.

Why I Read This Now: It was featured on my audiobook app so I grabbed it.

How I Discovered This: Favourite author

Recommended for: I think the fact that this was made into a big budget movie (I haven't seen it yet) says that this will interest a broad audience. It will appeal in particular to readers who are interested in patriarchal societies or isolated communities.

Some readers didn't like that there was a male narrator, but I think this was an important element that gave the novel balance, realism, and widened its perspective. It would have been a weaker book with a female narrator. I imagine the author thought this through thoroughly before making this decision.

I found this novel is quite different from the other novels I've read by Miriam Toews. If you've read her before and didn't like the book, try this. Or if you've read her before and loved the book, prepare yourself for something different.

>27 dchaikin: Dan, when a book is too short for an Audible credit if it’s under $10 and I want it, I buy it.

>31 Nickelini: The film is excellent !

>31 Nickelini: BB, my library has got a copy of it. Thanks for the wonderful review. 😃

Great comments on Women Talking, Joyce. I am a fan of Toews, so you have prepared me for something different. Good to know it's not as grim as you expected, either. I was a little reluctant to read it because of the subject matter.

>31 Nickelini: I wasn’t aware of this story. Glad to have your review. (And great choice for an audiobook)

>31 Nickelini: Great review, I've added it to my list.

Hello everyone -- if you end up reading Women Talking, I look forward to your comments. And yes, Cyrel, now I'm ready to see the film

4. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen, 1813


Cover comments: This is the Winchester Austen edition from Worth Press. It's from a lovely set of Austen novels that I bought for a reasonable price.

Comments: I'm not going to go through my regular spiel here, as I've talked about P&P a lot here over the years. This was a reread of possibly my all-time favourite book.

I was not very present on LT at the beginnig of the year and now I'm trying to catch up on people's thread. I've finally caught up with yours and will be gladly following along.
It seems the beginning of your reading year was very interesting and I hope it keeps being that way!

>39 Nickelini: i like the cover.

>40 chlorine: - Hello!
>41 dchaikin: - yes, nice for a classic

5. A Devil Comes to Town, Paolo Maurensig, 2018; translated from Italian by Anna Milano Appel, 2019


cover comments: I like this. There are notes about the cover design by Dutch typographer and art director Tessa van der Waals, and also about the photograph by French photographer Charles Freger, "whose images of 'tribal Europe' were captured over two winters of travel, through 19 countries. The transformation of humans into beasts is central aspect of centuries-old pagan rituals that celebrate the changing seasons, fertility, and life and death. The costumes vary between regions and even villages; they often represent devils, goats, wild boars, bears, or death itself. The character on the front is known as Habergeiss."

When I discovered this novella, this cover drew me in as it reminded me of the pagan and devilish elements that I've seen when I have travelled in the Alps. There is an unusual amount of Christian iconography that dominates, but if you pay attention, there are also counter balance icons of witches, devils, and weird monsters. I'm also fascinated by pre-Christian Europe, and how it survives into the 21st century. And I'm always interested in books (in English) about this, so recommendations are welcome.

That said, this figure, or anything like it, never appears in this book.

Comments: multiple bookends (much like Heart of Darkness) bring the reader to the core story of a young inexperienced priest in the 1980s(?) who is sent to a remote village in Switzerland (Graubünden region, I think). He's an outsider in this town where everyone knows everything about everyone else, and weirdly, they are all writing books. Memoirs, novels, non-fiction, everyone has a manuscript in the works. When their village comes to notice, a mysterious publishing representative from Luzern in a big black car shows up looking for the next Swiss literature masterpiece. Havoc ensues, and our young priest finds himself caught in the middle of it.

How I Discovered This: In 2021 I came across TripFiction.com (a fun website), and this was the first entry for Switzerland. As someone who has been trying to explore current Swiss fiction, this was a find. However, it's written by an Italian author who just happened to set his book in Switzerland.

Why I Read This Now: I was on a trip to Luzern, Switzerland to see Fasnacht (Carnival). This was a bucket list event since the 1980s when I saw a friend's pictures from Fasching somewhere in Germany. The stars aligned for me to take this perfect trip. I thought this was the best book to take along. I read most of it relaxing on a waterbed in the quiet room at my daughter's spa in Luzern on a sunny Sunday afternoon. I will keep this to read again in the future, as I'm interested in depictions of the devil in literature and art.

Rating: 4 stars. After I bought this in 2021, I saw reader reviews weren't great, despite the published accolades. I don't know why readers don't like this because I thought it was terrific.

Recommended for: a wide audience, actually.

>43 Nickelini: It seems like this was the perfect book for a perfect trip! :)

Sounds entertaining. Glad you found a good one.

6. The Beaten Track, Louise Mangos, 2022


cover comments: Well this is unfortunate. No scene like this happens in the book. I guess the cover designer heard the author lives in Switzerland, and they thought "That means snow? Or is that Sweden? What's the difference?"

Rating: 4.5 stars. There are only 4 copies of this in LT, and that's just sad. This was a terrific novel that a wide audience would love. It even has a blurb by Ian Rankin ("I really enjoyed this. A touch of Highsmith about it.")

Comments:: Sandrine, a young Swiss woman with a new born baby, is back home after a trek around the world. Things went bad and she had to rush home, but now she's met Scott and he seems to be the perfect man. The first few chapters of The Beaten Track are a bit flat, but then chapter 4 begins, and wham! we're off on a twisty, fascinating trip across the globe and through this novel. Sandrine doesn't realize it, but at her first stop in San Francisco, Jake sees her, and he stalks her the rest of the trip. The chapters alternate between the two, and the reader gets insights into a uber creepy man who follows her through New Zealand, Australia, Thailand, and Nepal. The Beaten Track is well written and the plot is tight.

Louise Mangos is a Brit who has lived over half her life in Switzerland, and has a Kiwi husband. I suspect she's traveled to the places she writes about here because she captured the feel of each location -- the ones I too know (San Fran, Hawaii, Sydney) and there is a vividness to the others that I haven't made it to yet.

How I Discovered This: Not sure, probably from one of the Switzerland accounts I follow. I'm always looking for popular fiction from Europe.

Why I Read This Now: I had this along on my trip the last few weeks to Switzerland, but didn't get very far. I read 80% of this yesterday when I was lying on my sofa with a cold.

Recommended for: Anyone who wants to read a quality thriller

>46 Nickelini: I don't usually read this genre, but you make it sound so enticing, and I like the travel aspect. It's probably not easy to find through the library though.

>47 labfs39: I think her ebooks go on sale on Amazon for very low prices sometimes

>46 Nickelini: I see her Strangers on a Bridge is available on audio which is necessary for me, but not this one. I might give it a try.

Interesting find on Switzerland and then some.

>43 Nickelini: That is a great cover. I love that you comment on the covers, Joyce. I usually only comment when the cover is particularly lovely.

The Mangos books sounds good; I am not familiar with her.

I hope your cold is better.

Well, I've just added two books to my wishlist. The Beaten Path is just 3.99 on amazon right now.

>43 Nickelini: Sounds exciting. Unfortunately, my library doesn't have it.

>46 Nickelini: Oh no, I'm sorry to hear that you have a cold and aren't feeling well. I wish you a speedy recovery and hope you feel better soon.

After starring a bunch of posts and immediately getting overwhelmed and not going back to the main group page, I realized "Wait a moment, I don't have Joyce's thread marked!" Glad to see you're still here and looking forward to seeing your reading.

My book club has a Miriam Toews book to read soon (Fight Night), and your review of Women Talking is making me look forward to it even more than I already was.

>49 kjuliff:, >50 dchaikin:, >51 BLBera:, >52 RidgewayGirl:, >53 Ameise1:, >54 mabith:

Aw, visitors!

You are all lovely to drop a comment.

Mabith, I hope you post on your page how your book group went

7. the Pull of the Stars, Emma Donoghue, 2019


Cover comments: At first glance this is nice. Colours are wonderful, feathers, wings. But if you look at it, a bit of mess and unrelated to the book. Fail. But nice colours.

Comments: Dublin, 2018. The Spanish flu is raging, and WWI is ending. Nurse Julia is doing her best on the small ward to handle maternity patients who also have the flu. She is joined by the naive but charming volunteer Bridie, and the in-control Dr Lynn (based on a real person). It's basically three important days in Julia's life. The depictions of childbirth are .... vivid. I myself had a horrific childbirth (actually quite similar to one of the births in this novel) so it was a bit . . . upsetting to revisit. Childbirth can be hell. That's a good message that this book sends, and it shouldn't be lost on "oh, that was a hundred years ago."

Recommended for: you know who should read this? Not the people who are drawn to it. It should be read by every single person who has ever posted on the internet, on any forum, in any form: "childbirth is natural and wonderful. Woman should embrace the experience," or anything remotely along those lines. There is so much toxic, disconnected-from-reality ideas of childbirth out there that need to be torched to the ground. (Please insert meme of Linda Hamilton from T2 here)

Why I Read This Now: my book club. I do not read every book my book club selects, because I don't have time for that. This was on my "not gonna read list," but then I found it on the library audiobook app, and it was okay to listen to while I was flat out sick on the sofa

Rating: as expected, "meh". It was okay. 3.5 stars if I'm feeling generous. But I knew this wasn't the book for me, so it did okay. The childbirth parts were really well done, and if anyone think childbirth is a toodle, they need to read this and realize the facts haven't changed.

How I Discovered This: everyone was talking about this when it was published

Sounds interesting.

>57 Ameise1:
Most readers like this more than I did

I really liked it, because I didnt know much about the spanish flu; Her writing brought me right into that center, and even tho Ive not had children, I had no illusions and thought she hit the nail on the head. I am sorry for your experiences, and agree with you, there are people that really need to read this,

>56 Nickelini: unfortunately Emma Donoghue doesn’t have the consistency of other good writers of fiction. It’s not like picking up an Ishiguro knowing you are in for a good read. Thanks for your review. I don’t think I’d really love this book either.

>56 Nickelini: Although it doesn't have anything to do with the book either, I do like the cover on my edition better than yours:



I think I liked the book more than you, mainly for the historical detail on the flu, shell shock, Dublin politics, etc, although I found the ending boringly predictable.

>60 kjuliff: well, I dont thing Ishaguro is all that....but as always YMMV

That being said, Its nowhere near as good as haven which I think is her best book

>56 Nickelini: “meh” is a rating I should use more often

How many stars is "meh"? I would guess 3.

>63 cindydavid4: not Room?

I have not read it due to the topic. But I suppose I should some time

>65 kidzdoc: guess it depends on how meh. ??

8. Spare, Prince Harry, 2023. Audiobook read by the author

Note: my family interrupted me at least 12 times while I was writing this so please be patient. I will return to correct egregious errors later


cover comments: perfect for this book

Why I Read This Now: I've been sick for a few weeks, and a week or so ago an explosion of royal family gossip (non-Prince Harry) hit the interwebs reminded me that I wanted to listen to this.

Comments: I listened to the audiobook, read by Prince Harry.

This memoir starts at age 12, when his mother died, and goes through his teen years, military years, partying years, meeting Megan Markle (sp?) years, and biding the royal family "adieu".

This book, and the author, is more well known than anything I can say here, so I'll keep it short. What made this worth reading is his insider's view of the British royal family -- unheard of, until this point. Also, he was born into an insane level of privilege, but was always kept on a very tight leash that limits his life. He really was put into an impossible spot, and this is his version of how that played out. Anyone born into this position would have also been in an impossible situation, but would have had a different story.

It's also interesting to hear his thoughts on the death of his mother.

I enjoyed listening to this. I'm still sick, so I found his voice and vignettes relaxing to listen to, and I sometimes fell asleep and had to rewind when I went back. I wasn't listening to this with a particularly critical ear. There were things that were obviously his opinion or perspective that I don't think were right, but that's the nature of a memoir, isn't it.

Rating: 4 stars

How I Discovered This: only those living under a rock didn't hear about it when it was published.

By the time Prince Harry was an adult, I hadn't paid much attention to the royal family in many years. When his engagement was announced to some American actress, I thought "ugh". Also, wasn't he the party boy who dressed up as a Nazi and also got a cushy spot in the British military? But gradually, I saw that the press and public comments against him and his bride were so unhinged and ridiculous that I swayed over to H&M's side. How does Piers Morgan have a job still? Does Jeremy Clarkson's family hate him so much that they can't get him institutionalized? Get help, people! (I've recently learned that the H&M nutjobs are collectively referred to as "derangers". So fitting.)

Anyway, back to the book release: At first I thought I might read this at some point, maybe buy it when it came out in paperback, but the extremely nasty, unrealistic, and foolish anti-H&M people made me buy this book in hard cover the first week it was released. Money sends a message, and since they were all saying that the book was going to be a huge fail, I enjoyed seeing it sell 1.4 million copies in North America and the UK right from the start and break first-day sales records.

Recommended for: people interested in an insider's peek at living in the royal family. It is quite long though. Don't think it needed to be so long.

>69 Nickelini: I don't really keep up with the royals, but I just don't get the utterly absurd levels of vitriol leveled at H&M. People need to get a grip...

>69 Nickelini: Fun review and, yeah, that level of hate is so weird. I know a person who has a YouTube channel where she makes quite a lot of money off of just talking about how much she hates Megan Markle. Spending any time with her became very unpleasant because it is the only subject she cares about.

>56 Nickelini: Great comments. The cover is pretty but puzzling. You are right in that it doesn't seem to have anything to do with the book. I love your comments on the covers, by the way. I usually only comment if the cover is striking. I felt pretty meh about this book as well. I loved the historical part, but the ending seemed to come too quickly and not really fit the rest of the novel.

>69 Nickelini: I'm not really interested in this but your comments are great.

I hope you are feeling better.

Hi Joyce, I finally got over here and got caught up with your reading. Of course I took a book bullet for The Beaten Track and have already snagged myself a copy for my Kindle. Hope your illness is long in the past, and the rest of the year bring only good things!

>71 RidgewayGirl: That's pretty sad, actually

>72 BLBera: & >73 DeltaQueen50: Thanks for the well wishes. It's been exactly a month. Still coughing a lot, but I have more energy so there is hope :)

I was just looking at the available covers for Jane Austen's Mansfield Park her on LT, and came across this cover:



If you know just a little about Jane Austen, I don't think you need to have actually read Mansfield Park to question this cover. I actually think it's fabulous . . . for another book in another time period.

Covers on public domain novels can certainly go to odd places. I saw a compilation of them for Swift's A Modest Proposal which all featured a couple midst-marriage proposal...

>75 Nickelini: That's so funny.

>76 mabith: LOL

With AI now gaining purchase, I suspect we'll see a lot more terrible cover choices.

HAHahahah!

>46 Nickelini:

Further to my comments about The Beaten Track, which I had fun with and gave 4.5 stars . . . my husband recently read it (because it was physically at the top of a pile of books). He's not a "reader" but likes to have something to relax with at night. Sometimes actual literature, sometimes more of what he calls a "chewing gum" book. Anyway, he said he didn't really like this one and thought the ending was disappointing. He was expecting a big twist and there wasn't one. So if you were interested, consider that it's somewhere between "hey that was good fun" and "meh".

9. Bass Rock, Evie Wyld, 2020


cover comments: I had to think about this one. In the end, it's a fail. Took me a while to figure out I didn't like it because I do like the painting style of the woman's face very much. But the disjointed shark and whatever the beast is in the lower corner are a big NO.

Comments: Bass Rock follows three women in different time periods, at the same spot -- North Berwick, Scotland and the Bass Rock, which is off the coast. In the early 1700s, Sarah is on the run from men who think she's a witch (and there were actual witch trials in North Berwick, although not mentioned in this novel); Just after WWII, Ruth has recently married a widower with two sons and has moved to Scotland from London; and Viviane is Ruth's granddaughter, cataloguing the contents of the house in preparation for sale. In addition to the location, the woman are linked through abuse they suffer from the men in their lives. And between these stories are further vignettes about anonymous women at the location and their abuse.

I immensely enjoyed Ruth's story, which was a bit of a surprise for me as the WWII era isn't my jam. But I found her relationships interesting, from her bond with her housekeeper, to her new sons, to her gaslighting husband and the sinister vicar who keeps showing up. I also liked Viviane's bits. The Sarah the witch part didn't work so well for me because I found it thin and insubstantial.

Bass Rock won the Stella Prize, which is an Australian women's writing award. The author doesn't live in Australia anymore and this is a very British book. It reminded me of Sarah Moss and Claire Fuller.

How I Discovered This: Jen Campbell reviewed this on you YouTube channel a few years ago and raved about it. She has good taste in books.

Why I Read This Now: This was actually a book I suggested to my book club last year, but they decided to read it the month that I was traveling to England and Italy. I'm sorry that I didn't get to take part in the discussion and I'll speak up next time so I get to actually talk about my book. Anyway, I guess it's been on my tbr-next pile ever since and I finally got to it

Rating: Solid 4 stars, maybe 4.5

Recommended for: Not sure. This book cycles between the three main stories, with the occasional vignette in between. It's a lot of jumping around and sometimes I had to go back and reread things. If you don't mind that level of shuffled story, then I highly recommend it. If you like a linear story, this one isn't for you.

>82 Nickelini: Cover not withstanding, this appeals; I'll add this is my list. How does the author do portraying the setting? Sounds like it could be an interesting one.

>83 labfs39: I felt like I could absolutely feel the setting, especially in the post-WWII parts. But I've never been to Scotland, so I don't know how accurate it is.

The Bass Rock to me is always the place where Davie Balfour is imprisoned after being kidnapped in Catriona, the sequel to Kidnapped. Having seen the rock itself, the idea of being imprisoned there, as many were over time, is not good.

You might like this:
https://special-collections.wp.st-andrews.ac.uk/2015/02/12/reading-the-collectio...

>85 SassyLassy: I didn’t realize that there were buildings on Bass Rock

>85 SassyLassy: Interesting article, Sassy

10. The Spoon Stealer, Lesley Crewe, 2020


cover comments: it's fine. It doesn't attract or repel me, and the scene actually features in the book.

Comments: Emmeline Darling was born on a farm in Nova Scotia in 1894. When her favourite brother is gassed in WWI and is convalescing in an English hospital, young Emmeline sails across the Atlantic to be with him. Unfortunately, he dies the day before she arrives. Emmeline stays on in England anyway, and finds employment as a companion for rich people with problems. The bulk of this novel takes place in the 1960s where Emmeline is looking back on her life. She has a pattern of appearing in people's lives and fixing them, in the style of Mary Poppins (which is actually spelled out once or twice in the book).

There is a huge cast of characters in England and in Canada, a talking dog, and a lot of words that for me did not ever seem to go anywhere.

Rating: 2.5 stars. I didn't hate it, and probably it should be a 3 star read, but it just took me so long to read because I'd get bored and put it down, or not actually pick it up. A very long 363 pages.

Why I Read This Now: Book club. I was going to skip this one, but a friend actually delivered a copy to my house, so I decided to give it a try. By the time the meeting came around, I had only made it half way through and I was fine returning it and finding out from our conversation what happens. But then I didn't go to the meeting, and I was curious enough to know how it ended, so I kept reading it for another 8 days. Sigh.

How I Discovered This: Book club. This is not a book that I would have noticed otherwise

Recommended for: Most readers enjoyed this one. It's heartwarming, apparently.

>88 Nickelini: "It's heartwarming, apparently." This made me smirk.

>88 Nickelini: LOL. I take it your heart wasn’t warmed 😉

>89 rhian_of_oz: ;-)

>90 FlorenceArt: Nope. More like bored.

Yes, the witch sections in The Bass Rock felt a bit like they were only there to justify the sort of ghosts in the house on the later parts. Still very good, but almost impossible to follow All the Birds, Singing, which at the time I felt was a perfect book.

11. 101 Things I Learned in Urban Design School, Matthew Frederick & Vikas Mehta, 2018


cover comments: the cover designer understand the assignment. Perfect

Comments: A book I read in one sitting after work today. 101 points from experienced urban designers. This is part of a series of "101 Things I Learned in Business School" . . . "Culinary School" . . . "Film School" (google to see if they discuss your school). I'm an arty type who enjoys design theory in general, whatever the subject, be it urban, interior, graphic, garden, whatever. Almost every one of the 101 points was interesting from an urban design viewpoint, but a bunch were pertinent to life in general. "Simple vs Simplistic," "Complex vs Complicated," etc. I enjoyed this immensely.

How I Discovered This: My daughter recently was accepted into a master's program in a presigious urban design program, and she went to our local library and brought home a huge stack of books on urban design because she is pumped! I pulled this little book from her pile and randomly read page 33 and thought it looked interesting

Rating: I gave it 5 stars because the only other review on LT is 2 stars. I guess they were looking for something else, or some entry offended them. Otherwise it would have been 4.5 stars for me. The information was good . . . I mean, it's a little book of points, so don't expect the deeper thoughts of Hegel. I thought there was a good range of topics within the points, and the visual arrangement was delightful. The book designer gets full kudos.

And now for a ramble (skip to next catigory if not interested) At first I was a bit disappointed that the authors are from the US and the examples were pretty US-centric. Hardly the epicenter of urban design. I was expecting the Netherlands level. But when I got into the content, the location wasn't all that relevant to their points. Also, one of the examples is from where I live (not the US): Robson Square in Vancouver with it's famous stairs with wheelchair ramp, which has been widely praised and also critiqued. Also a spot that I had a very romantic conversation with my husband when we were first dating. It was a perfect May Sunday evening, and it involved taking me to Tuscany (where his family lives) flash forward, we've been there 6 times since and we have two daughters who are Italian citizens.

Recommended for: Obviously people who are considering a career in urban design, but also people who are just interested in their urban surroundings and some of the many things to consider. I was never going to be an city planner, but it's always interested me. Also, it's a quick read -- took me a couple of hours with breaks to water plants and such.

Why I Read This Now: My daughter said "Hey, look at this cool book I found at the library"

>93 Nickelini: Sounds like a cool read! It’s an interesting subject I think. My own city is in the middle of replanning and is a bit of a mess right now. They are trying, despite difficult financial circumstances, to evolve from 1950’s to 70’s urban planning to a 21st century sustainable city.

>93 Nickelini: Sounds interesting reading for an evening or two--just put in a request at my library. The same author did "Architecture School" and there's a "Fashion School", too.

>93 Nickelini: That does sound interesting!

>93 Nickelini: your daughters recommendation could not be more inviting! Its not a subject Im interested in (since i live in a city that bulldozes everything older than 50 years, i know little about how urban planning should look) but I am intriged enough to see how it shoud be done

Hi Joyce:
The Bass Rock sounds like one I would enjoy. I will look for it.

>75 Nickelini: That is hilarious.

>82 Nickelini: I've had The Bass Rock sitting around for ages—I like Evie Wyld a lot, and the total unpredictability of her books, so that's a good reminder to bump that up the pile a few notches.

12. The Centaur's Wife, Amanda LeDuc, 2021


cover comments: Gorgeous, just gorgeous. The falling stars, the enchanted flowers and vines . . . perfect.

Comments: The Earth passes through a massive meteor shower and most of civilization is wiped out. This group of survivors meet up to help each other -- Heather, who has just given birth to twins, along with her spouse; Tasha and Annie who are a doctor and nurse team and also life partners; a young girl who was awaiting surgery named Elyse; and a few other refugees. Heather has cerebral palsy, which is not a large part of the story, but is something that sets her apart from others and gives her challenges.

Their town is situated beside a large mountain that is notorious for being inhospitable to humans. Unknown to the people below, this is home to mountain centaurs, who do not like humans at all. There are also three sibling centaurs -- Estajfan, Aura, and Petrolio--who are drawn to helping the humans.

On the back cover above the bar code, the publisher notes "Fiction - Magic Realism." I often love magic realism, so that was a draw for me. Now that I've read the book, I'm struggling with this descriptor. To me it's less magic realism and more fantasy. But I don't read adult fantasy, so I don't know what the rules are. Anyway, the story was incredibly original. I usually stay away from anything post-Apocalyptic, but there was enough other than the survival struggle to make me keep reading. In the end, I'm not entirely sure the author succeeded, but it was a worthwhile effort.

Why I Read This Now: the cover charmed me

Rating: 4 stars. This includes 1 star for originality

Recommended For: readers looking for a unique book; readers looking for books featuring a protagonist with cerebral palsy

How I Discovered This: I was browsing at the wonderful independent bookstore in Victoria, Bolen Books, and took a chance on this one. The blurb on the front cover from Heather O'Neill, one of my all time favourite authors, probably helped.

>100 Nickelini: It's so fun to choose a book at random and end up liking it. Of course, the bookstore's own curation probably helped. And I'd be tempted by a book with a blurb from Heather O'Neill. Making note.

13. Cheerful Weather For the Wedding, Julia Strachey, 1932


cover comments: I adore this Persephone Classics cover, although nothing like this actually happens in the novella. However, this painting was created the same year the novel was written, so I guess that's enough

Comments: This 119 page book takes place over a few hours in an English country house on the day of Dolly Thatcham's wedding. Disagreeable characters abound, and no one seems to care much about the marriage. Dolly's mother keeps exclaiming about how cheerful the weather is, but there is actually a cold March gale blowing outside. Dolly herself is chugging rum straight from the bottle. Her former boyfriend is mooning around,
and her brothers are arguing about the appropriateness of wearing green socks to a wedding.

By page 17 I was fairly perplexed by the novella, and confused by the large cast of characters. It reminded me of a Katherine Mansfield story, which is a good thing, but I needed more. So I went back to the beginning and made a character list, and then everything clicked and it all came together. It felt very much like umpteen stage plays I've seen but can't remember the titles to . . . Noel Coward perhaps, and others. And in fact, Cheerful Weather For The Wedding was made into a film in 2012, starring Felicity Jones.

The author is the niece of Lytton Strachey, and this novella was published by Virginia & Leonard Woolf's Hogarth Press.

How I Discovered This: YouTuber Simon Savidge back in 2021. I can't remember if he liked it or not.

Why I Read This Now: I felt like reading a book set in spring

Rating: 4 stars

Recommended for: readers who enjoy humorous English country house books

DNF: Farwell, Ghosts (no touchstones), Nadia Terranova, 2020; translated from Italian by Ann Goldstein


cover comments: Full on love this. Great painting- thank you, Becky Kolshrud. Reminds me of a favourite Italian artist, Modigliani, and also blue, which I always love on book covers. Equals perfection.

Rating: unfortunately, I DNF'd this at page 41 (Pearl Rules). No rating.

Comments: A young married woman with a career, who lives in Rome, returns to her childhood home in Sicily and confronts her past where he father mysteriously disappeared 23 years earlier.

I really tried. It just wasn't clicking in any possible way. It might be great, but not for me now. I will donate it and hope it finds a reader who loves more than just the cover.

Why I Read This Now: sometimes I go to Italy in May (not this year), so I thought I'd read an Italian book

How I Discovered This: I think I found this on Book Depository (RIP) looking at Italian books in translation.

Recommended for: I'm sure this is good -- the translator has quite the resume, so I'm sure she picks worthy books. Don't let me turn you away.

Looking for recommendation -

I've used up most of my 2024 holidays (this past February in Switzerland - hi, Barbara! Ameise1) and am in the process of planning a trip to Portugal in June-July 2025. Looking for reading recommendations for books set there (all of Portugal, including the Azores and Madeira, which I'm trying to fit in). Doesn't need to be a Portuguese author and I'm looking for something more fun than literary.

I have a few Jose Saramago in my piles of books. I will definitely pull out History of the Siege of Lisbon, but I'm wary after despising Blindness. A few years ago I loved 300 Days of Sun by Deborah Lawrenson, and I'd prefer something along those lines.

I will go check out the Portugal section of Reading Globally

>104 Nickelini: Day of Atonement by David Liss is a historical thriller set in Lisbon. It's well-written and is certainly weighted on the side of fun, with lots of action, but is also well-researched.

>104 Nickelini: I loved The Fat Man and Infinity: And Other Writings by António Lobo Antunes, a collection of chronicles that he wrote for Portuguese newspapers and magazines, along with fictionalized short stories about working class members of Portuguese society. I haven't read it yet, but one book I've been meaning to get to is Journey to Portugal: In Pursuit of Portugal's History and Culture by José Saramago, and I also loved The Stone Raft and Death with Interruptions by Saramago, which were both hilarious.

I've also wanted to read The Three Marias: New Portuguese Letters, a book written by three feminist authors in the early 1970s, when Portugal was still under fascist rule. The book was banned by the government, and the public outcry within and outside of Portugal played a major role in the Carnation Revolution that brought democracy to Portugal for the first time in roughly half a century.

>105 RidgewayGirl: . . . Okay! I'll trust you. The only book by David Liss I've read is The Ethical Assassin, which I did enjoy very much. But it was SOOOO Florida, I find it a bit of a mental jump to imagine that author writing anything historical or European. That said, I do have his A Coffee Trader in my stacks somewhere. Your suggestion sounds perfect.

>106 kidzdoc: - Oh, The Fat Man and Infinity does sound fabulous! Thanks for pointing it out. Not sure about adding any additional Saramagos to my list considering I want to do bodily harm to the author after his misogynist rape fantasy scene in Blindness (no woman would ever have written that, and that's why we choose bears). But I will look up your last (feminist!) suggestion, although it sounds a bit heavier than what I'm looking for. It does sound very good.

>103 Nickelini: Oh Joyce, I'm sorry to read that this book wasn't for you. It's very special, I admit, but it worked for me.

Ah, Portugal, I've only been to Lisbon and Porto, I liked them. Planning a holiday is nice.

>108 Ameise1: I'm glad you liked Farwell, Ghosts. I think I probably missed out on a good book, but I've decided that life is too short to read books that aren't clicking at the moment.

Planning holidays can be very nice, and it's wonderful to have something to look forward to. It's actually over a year away, and this past year I was extremely fortunate to travel so much, so it feels very far away. But I have things to do at home that I enjoy too. The last few weeks I've been working at creating two gallery walls of pictures and art in house, and that's been fun and satisfying.

14. The Maid, Nita Pose, 2022; audiobook narrated by Lauren Ambrose


cover comments: just fine for a book of this type

Comments: Molly Grey is a neurodivergent chambermaid at a five star hotel. She loves her job and takes great pride in her work and her employer. She finds an uber-wealthy regular client dead in his suite, and as things spiral out of control, Molly ends up charged with murder along with several other serious offences.

The Maid follows the pattern of a cozy mystery, with the added twist of Molly's unique life and outlook, and the point of view of a hotel maid. Overall, I enjoyed the arc of the story, although I was frustrated with her lack of support from her coworkers and complete lack of friends, and (spoiler on small tangent of the book:) the whole Wilbur part of the story. When he took advantage of her and stole all her grandmother's money, I considered quitting the book altogether. But I expected that somehow it would loop around and she'd get the money back and expose Wilbur. I'm very disappointed that that didn't happen.

The other thing that is kinda . . . off . . . about this (but maybe not to others) is the purposefully vague setting. Vague settings can be perfectly fine, but this one irritated me a little. To me, the setting felt very much United States. The use of dollars makes clear it's not set in England, despite all the tea drinking and crumpet conversation. The author is from Toronto, so many readers assume that's where it's set, but it doesn't feel Canadian. Some readers protest that it can't be anything other than the US because there is an immigrant from Mexico who is sending money back to his family (Psst -- we have lots of immigrants from Mexico in Canada too). So who knows, but I think because the author is a Canadian who works in publishing, and because this novel is aimed at a more general audience and not a literary one, she is one of those non-US authors who makes it vague as to not turn off the vast US book buying readers who get twitchy when they read books from other places. (This is a real thing.)

Rating: 4 stars. If I start picking at it, I'm sure I'd lower my rating, but it was interesting and fun to listen to while I was working in my garden

Recommended for: readers who like cozy mysteries from a different angle. I would describe this as a mystery that combines Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine meets Amelia Bedelia

I enjoy books set in hotels, and I like staying in nice hotels, so I enjoyed this peek at hotels behind the scenes.

Why I Read This Now: it was available on my library audio book app. I also own a paperback copy of this, so now I can make room on my shelves and pass it along to a friend.

How I Discovered This: publisher promotion when it was published

15. The Days: Forecasts, Warnings, Advice, M.A.C. Farrant, 2016


cover comments: I absolutely love this cover, it's gorgeous. Illustration by Catrin Welz-Stein

Comments: a collection of very short stories (some 2 sentences, one as long as 3 pages). As with most short story collections, stories vary from "fabulous," "nice" to "meh" and "what did I just read?". But I think super short fiction is a lot of fun so I will always support these books.

How I Discovered This: It came across an internet search in 2021. I was immediately drawn to the cover, and yes, I bought a book for it's cover! Not the first time and won't be the last. Also, the author was from Vancouver Island, and I'm always up to support that group of local artists.

Why I Read This Now: I wanted a book I could dip in and out of

Recommended for: readers who enjoy quirky short stories

Rating: 4 stars

>111 Nickelini: That is a great cover. I'd buy it for the color alone.

>112 RidgewayGirl: I'm glad I'm not the only one ;-)

I looked up the author and she has a series of books with the same artist doing the cover illustration

I love the cover too. Not sure if I'll pick that one up, but it's nice to see here.

16. The French Girl, Lexie Elliott, 2018


cover comments: This cover tells you exactly what kind of book this is, but for thriller-suspense, I think the swimming pool at night is rather intrigueing and better than the standard go-to cover of big blocky sans-serif with a dark figure walking away.

Comments: Six friends are finishing their degrees at Oxford and go to one's family vacation place in France to celebrate. There is an intriguing French "girl" next door (their age, so a woman) who disappears the same weekend. Most of the novel is set a decade later when her body is discovered on the property, and the group is under investigation. They have all moved on with their lives, but are still connected to various degrees. The story follows Kate, who as a working class northerner who made her way into the lawyer-in-London class, and feels like the outsider with the more posh others.

I enjoyed this audiobook and was always happy to have a chance to listen to it. Overall, I found it a bit different from other murder mysteries, which added to the pleasure of living in this author's world for 11 hours while I watered my garden and did laundry, etc. I think it was fairly clear early on who the murderer was, but of course didn't know the motivation or circumstance, or who else was involved. I was frustrated with how the protagonist, Kate, would excuse that character when Kate obviously should have STAYED AWAY FROM THEM (or him or her, if you believe in that pedantic grammar stuff.). Also, "the French Gilr" is a non-character. She is the attractive neighbour who doesn't make friends with the group but is there being sexy for the guys in the group. She has no character other than stereotypical sexy French female. And then Kate's best friend, who is loyal and likeable, is from Sweden, so she's also irrisistably sexy and has slept wtih "all the men in London," and isn't ashamed of it. The two English women are the northern working class and honest, and southern upper class and snake-like. A bit heavy handed on the stereotypes there. Still, I had fun listening to this and the twists on the story were fun.

Why I Read This Now: I've owned this hard copy for a while, but I have more books than book shelves (and am limiting any expansion of those), so I'm chipping away at my TBR by listening to audio books. This was a book in my TBR that was available on my library audiobook app.

How I Discovered This: found it while browsing on Book Depository (RIP). I'm not sure this one made it to North America. None of my circles, for sure. Anyway, I thought a murder-suspense set in France would be fun. It was indeed fun, but the France part was minimal, and had no distinct French atmosphere. Could have been Brits on vacay in Spain, Greece, wherever. Most of the book was set a decade later in London.

Recommended for: readers who like murder mysteries and are looking for a vacation read. Or in my case, a watering the garden and doing laundry read.

Rating: 4 shiny stars. I'd definitely read this author again

>115 Nickelini: Fun review, Joyce. Hope your summer is cooler than it is here in the Northeast.

>116 labfs39: Well, we've just started a heat wave, which is oppressive. And the last decade or so, heatwaves sometimes soon involve wildfires and terrible air. But June was cooler than usual, and June in Vancouver is already notoriously disappointing (for 40 years I've been saying "NEVER plan an outdoor wedding in June in Vancouver") but my husband and I both enjoyed it because we knew the heat was coming. And it was still spring, which is my favourite season. Hope you get a break soon.

>117 Nickelini: I lived outside Seattle for more than 15 years, and the effects of wildfires in BC (as well as Eastern Washington and Oregon) often reached us. Sometimes ash would cover the ground outside and we were hundreds of miles away. I can't imagine living even closer. The air quality must get terrible.

I was reading that more people die from heat than from hurricanes, but FEMA doesn't offer any support for heat-related incidents. If they did maybe more places would have AC. Lack of cooling equipment is a real problem in Maine where it hasn't traditionally been needed.

>118 labfs39: I think there is a rising awareness of the dangers of heat. Like Maine, traditionally cooling equipment wasn't much needed here either. But now my area of the city is advertising cooling locations where people can go and escape. That's new the last few years.

17. The Flatshare, Beth O'Leary, 2019


cover comments: Completely pleasant. After reading the novel, I think it's rather clever. Taken as someone who has never heard of the novel, I suppose it gives you a sense of the intended reader. It hints to more.

Rating: 5 stars

How I Discovered This: a few years ago my 20-something niece recommended this to me. She's not a big reader, but I've steered her toward a few books and she's reported back that she enjoyed them. She was excited to tell me about this one, so I thought I'd take her word for it. I've owned it for a while, but I don't read physical books much anymore. Then I found this on audiobook.

Comments: London publishing editor, Tiffy, suddenly finds herself desperate for a new flat, but she is on a tight budget. She finds the flatshare where she has the place for 12 hours overnight and on weekends, while the current occupant works nights and spends weekends with his girlfriend. Sure, they have to share a bed, but not at the same time. They slowly get to know each other over post it notes and develop a friendship. There are multiple side stories that are all interesting and tie in all together at the end. The novel is narrated alternately by Tiffy and Leon.

This was utterly delightful, interesting, and unexpected. Sure, you know from the beginning that Tiffy will get together with Leon (if that's a spoiler, I suspect you've never read a book or seen a movie. Sorry). It's the journey to make it there where the fun is found. Yes, this is tagged "chick lit' and "romance' and I know most readers see themselves above all that. That's sad, because there is a tremendous amount of enjoyment to be had here, with the characters, the humour, and the plot. Outstanding first novel

Did you know that studies show that people who read romance novels have more fulfilled sex lives? But sure, go read that award winning novel about some old white man thinking about something instead of The Flatshare.

While I was reading the Flatshare, it reminded me on some level of Bridget Jones's Diary, although not as angsty. Someone pointed out to me that it's a little like "You've Got Mail" with all the epistolary communication. And in the end, the friends were a little like the friends in "Notting Hill." Those are all my favourite comfort movies and books. Yet the Flatshare adds something new.

Why I Read This Now: the audiobook came available and I'm trying to read more "fun" books

Recommended for: fun people, people with hearts. This was so good! Those who look down on this because they assume it lacks literary merit might be fine people, but not someone I'd want to talk to at a party. You've been warned. LOL

>120 Nickelini: The Flatshare is a delightful book. There is movement towards making people less sniffy about genre fiction, but for some mysterious reason, the genres traditionally preferred by women are still somewhat denigrated.

>121 RidgewayGirl: I agree. It makes me a little nutso. This book has some great male characters, so I think guys should read it too.

Putting The Flatshare on my list partly because I love a post-it note back and forth so much. Sometimes I think 80% of the reason I enjoyed the YA book Feeling Sorry For Celia (a purely epistolary novel) were the post-it notes from the main character's mom.

>123 mabith: Oh, if you like that format, I highly recommend Life On The Refrigerator Door by Alice Kuipers, if you can find a copy. It's a quick read that starts out light and gets rather sad

>120 Nickelini: I really enjoyed The Flatshare and agree that it had a lot of similarities with the rom-com movies/books you mention (in a good way). I also watched the TV show they made from this and while it lost a lot of depth, I think it did keep a lot of the warmth (and loved the cast even if I found Tiffy's make-up deeply distracting sometimes).

>120 Nickelini: Sounds fun and like something I would enjoy right now. I'm looking to see if my library system has it.

>124 Nickelini: Noted!

>120 Nickelini: I have added this book to my library list. But I'll have to borrow it from another branch.

18. the Jane Austen Society, Natalie Jenner, 2020


cover comments: This is not a cover that draws me in, but the colours are nice.

Rating: 4 solid stars

How I Discovered This: it was a gift from a friend who knew I loved Jane Austen

Comments: Eight very different people, who are all Jane Austen lovers, converge on the village of Chawton in the mid-1940s. This is the home of the current Jane Austen musuem, which is housed in the cottage on her brother's estate where she lived during the last years of her short life. The real Jane Austen Society did form at this time to turn the famous author's home into a museum, but this is not their story. Instead, it is a work of pure fiction where the characters secrets are gradually revealed and their unexpected reliance on each other becomes more and more important to reach the goal of preserving Jane Austen's home. This isn't high art, but it's a solid debut novel that uses the motifs and themes of Austen without hitting the reader over the head with them.

For me, The Jane Austen Society started off slowly, and I was a little overwhelmed by the sizeable cast of characters who initially were not very interesting. Also, the WWII era is one of my least favourite settings, so that didn't help. By a quarter of the way through though, my interest was engaged, and I found the characters endearing and the little dramas quite fun. I listened to the audiobook read by Richard Armitage who was marvelous. He gave each character a slightly different tone without being an obvious actor, and did the American accents credibly. Quite a coup for a first time author -- a Canadian, even -- to score Richard Armitage for her novel's reader. Well done, Ms Jenner!

Recommended for: readers who like books set in rural mid-century England, and Jane Austen fans (but you don't need to know JA to enjoy this. It stands on its own)

Why I Read This Now: My project this year is to reduce the physical number of books in my house, but I also don't have time to relax with a book, so I'm reducing my TBR with audiobooks that I can download from the library. Audio books are great when I'm weeding, watering my garden, or cleaning.

>129 Nickelini: This sounds like a fun read. I am also a Richard Armitage fan. He's done several of Agatha Christie's Poirot mysteries too, and very well!

>130 rv1988: I read a lot of Agatha Christie in my late teens, and I stopped cold after The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, which I figured out because I'd read enough of her work to know how it worked and I really disliked it! Also hated the conclusion of Murder on the Orient Express. So I was off Christie, but I think it would be fun to read her again. Richard Armitage would entice me so much more!

>131 Nickelini: Oh, I understand. Armitage has done quite a range of books though, so if you want to skip Christie, there are still options. He's a good actor too, but good actors aren't always good voice actors, in the way that he is.

>132 rv1988: good point. I think I can search narrator in my library audiobook app. I'll look out for him

>132 rv1988:, >133 Nickelini: I'm tempted to cave in & buy Mr Armitage reading David Copperfield to me....

>134 kac522:

Ooohhh. I'm tempted too

I finally bought The Secret Lives of Color which I took as a BB from you a couple of years ago. I came across a YouTube quilter who used it in a series of blocks to make a quilt which is how I remembered it. But, when I brought it home, my husband said, "Ooh- that looks interesting", and confiscated it. So, it might be a while yet before I get to it. But it does look interesting.

>136 dudes22:
I hope both of you enjoy it!

If you remember what it was called, can you send me a link to the youtube video? That sounds fun

This is the first one of a series of videos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z573se0mhC0&list=PLBcQXd6R0_G_5onK7xv4KgNb3Y...

I'm not sure I like the block she chose but it's an interesting concept.

>138 dudes22:

Thank you for the link. I'm intrigued! I'm not a quilter, but I certainly admire the art involved

Hi Joyce. I am happy to see positive comments on The Jane Austen Society. My sister gave it to me as a gift a few years ago, and it has been staring at me from the shelf, accusingly.

Others that call to me are The Centaur's Wife and The Days:Forecasts, Warnings, and Advice. I enjoy your comments; they give me a good sense of the book.

I also loved The Flatshare. It was such a fun book.

19. Consumption, Kevin Patterson, 2006


cover comments: I like it. Snow and blue - two of my favourite things on book covers

Comments: The "consumption" of the title refers to one of the storylines about Victoria, a young Inuit girl who is sent from her northern community of Rankin Inlet to Winnipeg for tuberculosis treatment, and then returns years later to find her family's way of life radically changed. If this book has a theme, it's about the transition from people living as they had for a thousand years and in only a few years moving to a typical North American way of life. Most of it is set in Rankin Inlet, but there are also bits in New Jersey and Tahiti.

In the Afterward, the author says Consumption started as a collection of essays but his publisher suggested he massage it into a novel. It did have a somewhat disjointed feel, which worked for my reading style of picking the book up only every few days for about 15 minutes. This meant I didn't have to focus on a story and could instead enjoy the vignettes about Arctic life that I always found interesting. The author is a physician, so there is often medical detail tying the pieces together.

The last 63 pages are a series of essays ostensibly written by one of the characters that is titled "The Diseases of Affluence." I expected this to be extra content of relevance, but it's actually part of the novel. Very odd structure that worked for me.

Rating: 4 stars. Unlike anything I've ever read.

How I Discovered This: I've owned this since shortly after it was published, so I don't remember. I do remember being interested in it because I wanted to read more about the lives of indigenous people in Canada.

Why I Read This Now: I started this back in June so I actually don't remember why this one stood out from my massive TBR pile

Recommended for: people who like to read novels written by physicians (medical details) and readers who want to know more about life in the Arctic and the Inuit. The author is not indigenous himself, so if reading own voices is important then this might not be for you.

>141 Nickelini: That sounds right up my alley so I've added it to my library wish list.

>141 Nickelini: That sounds very interesting. Unfortunately, my library doesn't have a copy.
Have a nice Sunday.

>142 kidzdoc:
If you ever get to read it, I'll be very interested in your thoughts

>143 Ameise1:
Hmmm, I'm not surprised that a somewhat obscure 18 year old book hasn't made it all the way to your library ;-) Oh well!

20. Lampedusa, Steven Price, 2019


cover comments: Well! Sure, I like it. It says "vintage, Europe" and Lampedusa is set in 1950s Sicily, so that's good. But that car -- pretty sure it's a Porsche -- is not a 1950s sportscar. More 1970s, even 1980s. And the cover colours were very popular in the 1980s too (people who didn't live through the 80s perhaps wouldn't recognize the vintage 80s trends that were apart from the primary colour Memphis school iconic look, but there were definitely vintage trends too). To summarize, a pleasing cover that sort of reflects the novel but is historically inaccurate.

Comments: Lampedusa tells the story of the last years of the author Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, the author of one of the top literary novels of all time and the best selling book in Italy, The Leopard. Tomasi was a "minor prince of Sicily," and last of his family line. He wrote The Leopard, set in the Italian Risorgimento of the mid-1800s, about the death of his ancestor's way of life. Lampedusa also reflects on the end of an era with death of Tomasi. Famously, his novel was rejected as "unreadable" by Italian publishers and the author died not knowing of his literary achievement.

How I Discovered This: this novel was critically praised when it was published, and nominated for the Giller Prize (a prestigeous prize for Canadian authors). I read The Leopard years ago and disliked it intensely (serious misogyny, even for a mid-20th century Italian novel) but I was still interested in the author himself. How does it feel to be the dying last person of a renowned historical family? And books about authors appeal to me, even if I don't like their work.

Rating 3 stars. Probably the lowest rating on LT for this fine book. The writing was good. I listened to this on audiobook, and the reader was actor Jonathan Aris, who did an excellent job. It was always pleasant enough to listen to, but overall I found it a bit boring. I renewed my loan several times from the library and had to be in the mood to turn it on.

Recommended for: fans of The Leopard and 1950s Italy

Why I Read This Now: a book in my TBR that I could listen to on audiobook

Great review, Joyce. My local library has got a copy of ot. I put it on my list.

21. When We Lost Our Heads, Heather O'Neill, 2022


cover comments: Well. When this was published, my first reaction to this was rather negative. But then I saw many readers online gushing about how much they loved it. I took a closer look, and can firmly say I dislike the typeface, and I dislike the colours. The former reminds me of menus from German themed restaurants in the 1970s, and the later reminds me the 2016 Pantone colours of the year - rose quartz and serenity. The image itself I quite like. Put this image on a cover with different colours (perhaps moss or Prussian blue on ivory) and a different typeface, and I'd love it too.

Rating: 4.5 stars -- Heather O'Neill never disappoints me. And after recently reading a series of rather male novels, it was wonderful to read a woman writer again, with rich female characters and interesting topics.

Comments: In 1800s Montreal, Marie Antoine and Sadie Arnett are little girls living charmed lives, even though occasionally they can both seem a little psychiopathic. After a tragic event, their lives go in different directions. They enter adulthood on separate paths, but always think of each other, although somtimes with malice. Enter a host of other O'Neill-like colourful characters, and themes of class, gender, revenge and female empowerment. The author has some fun setting her story on a framework of the French Revolution characters and themes. As is her style, the author tells her story in a magical, pretty way, with the ugly rot of humanity constantly bubbling up. Just like an original Brothers Grimm tale.

I have to interject myself here and add this: Looking at the synopsis of the novel on Wikipedia, this line jumped out: "Sadie is taken in by George, a cross dressing midwife who works in a brothel". Isn't that the most intriguing line you've read today?

Heather O'Neill is one of my top favourite writers. I've owned When We Lost Our Heads for a while, but she doesn't publish very often so I space out my reading of her books. I'm all caught up now . . . except she just published a new novel this month, The Capital of Dreams(which I've now ordered). I can see that Heather O'Neill isn't every reader's taste. Her sense of whimsy and pleasing pictures purposefully clash with the raunchy, gritty details and events, I imagine, jars some readers. She loves to stack similies on top of more similies, and then throw in a metaphor. And people who disparage her writing complain that she violates the "show don't tell" rule (I think that last complaint is missing her point). Sure, Heather O'Neill isn't for every reader, but she's bang-on for me.

Why I Read This Now: My audiobook hold came up at the library and there were 7 people behind me so I had to read it now or get back in line (or pull out my paper copy)

How I Discovered This: Publicity when it was published.

Recommended for: readers who like whimsy mixed with a deep note of depravity. When describing When We Lost Our Heads to my adult daughter tonight, I said it was more steam punk than historical fiction. It reminded me a bit of Fingersmith, by Sarah Waters, but also the film "Marie Antoinette" by Sofia Coppola. If you've never read Heather O'Neill before, I wouldn't say this is the best book to start with, unless you're a big fan of French Revolution themed fiction.

When We Lost Our Heads sounds interesting. I'm not familiar with the author, what would you recommend as a starting point for her?

>148 mabith: I think the best one to start with is Lullabies For Little Criminals

Thanks!

>147 Nickelini: This sounds really good.

>147 Nickelini: This really sounds intriguing. Thanks for a great review. I was interested by your comparison to Fingersmith, which I really enjoyed.

>147 Nickelini: "Sadie is taken in by George, a cross dressing midwife who works in a brothel". Isn't that the most intriguing line you've read today?

Why, yes, indeed it is!

>152 rv1988: Oh Fingersmith? one of my favorite books. will have to check when we lost our heads

>147 Nickelini: Sounds interesting. My library has The lonely hearts hotel. Have you read that?

>155 Ameise1: I did enjoy Lonely Hearts Hotel. I avoided it for a while because the description didn't sound like it would be my thing, but I actually loved it.

😃

>156 Nickelini: I have that one on my shelf, so I will give it a try.

And Then She Fell, Alicia Elliott



Comments Loving this novel. I got half way through two weeks ago before I had to return it to the library. I immediately got back in line I'm currently 7th in line. Sigh.

I'm posting this to show that I actually am trying to read something.

October DNFs

1. Death in the Tuscan Hills, Marco Vichi

I haven't completely DNF'd this, but I'm about half through a 300 page book and I've been reading it since mid-September. I thought it would be murder mystery or thriller, but it's neither of those. I like the view of Italian life in the mid-60s.

My lack of engagement made more sense when I did an internet search and learned this is book 5 in a series. That would explain all the many characters who just show up in this meandering story without a plot yet. I really want to read this because it's a non-literary book translated from Italian. It's set in Tuscany, where I've been 6 times. And I bought it on my last trip there. But I can't imagine it's going to get better.

2. Pine, Francie Toon

This mystery-horror starts on Halloween in rural Scotland. Sounds perfect for this time of year. I read about 30 pages and I had no idea who all the characters were or what they were doing.

--

Sigh. I knew going into this year that I wouldn't have much room in my brain for reading. But this is still disappointing.

>160 Nickelini: Do you think you'll try to get the first one in the series and see if it makes more sense? It does seem to check boxes for you.

>159 Nickelini: wondered where you were! hoping everything is ok with you and yours. be well

>159 Nickelini: Oh what a shame you couldn't extend it.
I'm so sorry to read that you're not getting on with reading books. There really are years like that, I've experienced them too. It will get better again at some point.
I hope you and your family are doing well. Thinking of you and sending you lots of positive vibes 💖😘

I loved And Then She Fell, Joyce. I think it would be a hard one to put down.

Thanks for stopping by, everyone :-)

>161 labfs39: - I'm not going to seek it out, but if it fell in my lap I'd give it a try. My goal at the moment is to decrease the number of physical books in my home.

>162 cindydavid4: & >163 Ameise1: - I appreciate your kind words. Everything is fine. Just busy and I don't have much space in my brain for reading right now

>164 BLBera: - I'm looking forward to getting back to it. I'm currently 7th in line

22. Fit To Die, Daniel Kalla, 2023


cover comments: This woman in the fancy emerald green dress is eating pearls. I do not know how I feel about this.

Rating: 4.5 stars

How I Discovered This: By the Fit To Die was published in 2023, this physician-university professor-author had become an auto-buy author for me. This thriller is set in the diet and fitness world, which intrigued me.

Comments: In Los Angeles and Vancouver, an unusual number of fit and thin people are dying from mysterious circumstances. It is discovered that a toxic substance is being sold anonymously on the internet that promises enhanced athletic performance and weight loss. This toxin is DNP and it was first used as an explosive in WWI, and it is a real life health threat.

Kalla pulls off another exciting medical thriller with a few characters that I met in an earlier novel, as they try to chase down the drug's distributor before more lives are lost. The author does a terrific job of capturing the setting of our shared hometown of Vancouver.

Why I Read This Now: in an effort to decrease the stacks of books in my house, I'm currectly trying to listen to those that I can find on audiobook (from my library). After being on hold since March, I started this right away when my turn came around

Recommended for: people who enjoy medical thrillers, or books set in the fitness and diet industries.

23 & 24. Sorrow & Bliss, Meg Mason, 2022


cover comments: I don't hate this style of cover, but it really speaks to early 2020 female-centered novel, doesn't it? Unimaginative, sends out the code to potential readers. Whatever.

Comments: Martha and her sister Ingrid have a sort of bohemianesque upbringing in London. Their father an esteemed, but underperforming poet (if underperforming is even possible for a poet), and their mother a more successful artist (painter? sculpter?). They are supported by their mother's much older sister and her uber-wealthy husband. Martha struggles through life, everyone around her knowning she had mental health issues, although exactly what isn't known. It's all interesting and sometimes highly entertaining.

What even is this story about? I've now read it twice in a row -- first on audio book and then my paper copy. Martha has serious mental health issues, but is surrounded by many people who love her, including her younger husband Patrick, who fell in love with her when he was 14. Martha is a pretty prickly person, but is intelligent and humorous. Some readers compare this to the show "Fleabag" and that is an apt comparison, although not what I imagined as I listened to, then read it.

The author has made it clear that there was no actual mental illness depicted, but the stigma and struggles of mental illness was her focus (author note at the end).

How I Discovered This: It was nominated for the Women's Prize, and that year, it was the only book of the lot that sounded interesting to me. Later that month, I was in my favourite bookstore in the world, Munro's in Victoria, BC, and there it was on the shelf. Sold!

Why I Read This Now: If you're up on my posts, you can see I've all but stopped reading, but audio books are keeping me on LT. Also, I have too many books for my shelves, so since I can't read them, I'm trying to listen on audiobooks. This reserve copy came up, so I had to read it now or wait again . . .

The reserve was about to expire, and I still had at least a quarter of the book to read, so I listened to the finish. . . however! I can only listen to audiobooks in certain situations. These are: cleaning, painting, stripping wallpaper, gardening, long distance drives, maybe transit. Not city driving, cooking, crafting, life. After I rushed through the end, I thought I should reread the last bit (since my audio book was whisked back to the library). But there was also something in the beginning I was confused about, so I reread the entire novel. Audio book in November, and finishing the paper copy in December.

Rather different experiences. The audiobook was an interesting narrative, told by Emilia Fox, best known to many readers as the young actress who played Georgianna Darcy in the 1995 Pride & Prejudice (fun fact: she played Colin Firth's much younger sister here, but years later played his wife in Born Equal). I enjoyed listening to the audiobook and found some parts actually laugh out loud.

Reading the paper copy, the narrative story faded, and I could see more the structure and the literary devices. I saw things that I heard a little differently, and saw things I didn't notice (before anyone jumps on "reading is always better than audio/movies", I have plenty of counter examples, so shhh)

Recommended for: readers interested in mental illness, books with interesting female characters

Rating: Solid 4 stars, and the extra detail of the 2nd reading might have raised it to 4.5 except the book's serious (to me) flaw: Through most of the novel, the protagonist doesn't want to have children. Many women don't want to have children, for many reasons. I would like to see more of this in media (books, films, TV). But late in the novel it's shown that having a child is what she most wants more than everything . . . but thought she thought she couldn't. This absolutely did not grab at my heart as it was supposed to . . . ugh! Please! Not all women want to be mothers. Can there be books about those women? It's not even rare. We are more than the fountain of future generations. Often women have other things. Childbirth and rearing is a huge ordeal that is grossly underestimated

Actually, after writing out my spoiler and thinking about it, I'm downgrading this to a 3.5. Come on already. Stop it.

25. Lonely Planet Pocket Azores, 2024


cover comments: it's a Lonely Planet guide - sure, this cover makes me want to go there (I'm not sure this book tells me where it actually is though -- I hate it when travel books do that! New rule! Every travel book must identify the place on their cover)

It wouldn't be a year on LT if I didn't write a 1 star review!

Rating: 1 star - maybe this pocket guide is useful once you've planned your vacation and have arrived. Maybe they should sell this when you get off the plane at the airport. Otherwise, I found it useless for trip planning. Very annoyed, very disappointed. Very poorly done, Lonely Planet.

Recommended for: see above

Why I Read This Now: I've been trying to plan a trip from Canada to the Azores on our way to Portugal next June. I was suprised at how little information I could find. Portugal travel guides don't include the Azores. Then I saw my trusted Lonely Planet was publishing this in October. So I waited. Insert sad face emoji here.

Comments: Sigh. I like travel guides. I have found them invaluable. Sure, there are predictable pages that explain how to get from New York to London, and other wastes of time. But the Azores is an obscure group of islands in the Atlantic.
What are my options to get there from North America?
This guide didn't tell me.
Once I'm there, do I want to stay on the airport island, or is all the best stuff on other islands?
This guide didn't tell me.
Once I'm there, what are the top not to miss sites?
This guide didn't tell me (everything is presented by each island).
If I want to stay 3 days, what are some itineraries? 5 days? 7 days?
This guide didn't tell me.
BIG ONE:
How do I travel between islands? Fly? Ferry?
This guide didn't tell me.
How long does it take to travel between islands?
This guide didn't tell me.
How often does transportation run? Every Thursday? Or 10 times a day?
This guide didn't tell me.
Is it worth going for 3 days? Do I need 5? 7?
This guide didn't tell me

This guide DID tell me:
- suggested accomodation on each island. Yeah, Trip Advisor is better
- suggested eats - yeah, we walk down the street and figure it out ourselves. We're foodies -- we figure it out
- top sites on each island - okay, that might be the only value of this -- do I want to go to this island? Or another? But again, it would help to know how easy or difficult it is to travel between islands.

How I Discovered This: searching online for a travel guide

>168 Nickelini: sounds like they did a yelp search (or similar) and reworded it. But it should be an amazing place to visit. Wish you better guidance

>168 Nickelini: My favorite travel guides for planning trips are the DK Eyewitness guides. There are pictures, lists of top sights/meals/activities in the area and they have been great for planning. There is one for the Azores, but it looks like it was last updated in 2019.

Great comments on the travel guide. I am with you regarding books about places, especially travel guides. There should be maps, lots of maps, and not just street maps, but maps that show where in the world the place is.

my big bugaboo is not enough maps not just in travel guides , but in travel literature, and certain non fiction that just begs for them. yes there is always google but they often dont show what I want and the resizing is near impossible. sigh

I wish you and your loved ones a happy and blessed festive season.